Tag: review

A2 Hosting Review

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For reliable hosting that focuses on speed, A2 Hosting provides plenty of options to get your site up and running.

If you’re familiar with SEO and the ranking factors Google uses to decide where your site shows up in search results, you know speed is one major factor in securing higher rankings and increasing traffic and revenue.

This is one big way A2 differentiates itself from other standard web hosting options–it puts speed at the forefront of all its services.

A2 Compared to The Best Shared Hosting Companies

A 99.98% uptime guarantee, free automated backups, and free site migration are only some of the features that set A2 apart as far as reliable web hosting goes. As one of the oldest providers on the market, it’s a solid option for both new and veteran websites. WordPress users will especially love A2, as it has pricing packages specifically tailored for WordPress sites. 

Before you make any solid decisions for a hosting provider, it’s always a good idea to know what your options are. I spent hours making sure the top list page contained only the best web hosting services according to a wide variety of needs and features. To see the full rundown, check out that post to see all the top picks.

Who is A2 Best For?

It’s simple. Any website that is designed to drive sales and conversions can benefit from a hosting service like A2. I’ve mentioned it before, but I don’t get tired of saying speed is the name of the game if you want to capture new leads, retain existing customers, keep your Google rankings, and maintain a great brand reputation. 

Now, there isn’t a web host on the planet that doesn’t come with a set of pros and cons. But one thing’s for sure: No website visitor wants to land on a website that takes forever to load. They’ll bounce right off your site faster than you can say web hosting. 

While you can try to install cache plugins that slow down your site and claim to improve your website speed, a host like A2 that’s built with a focus on speed can be a better place to start. 

A2: The Pros and Cons

Pros

Exclusive web servers: Global web servers that are exclusive to A2 give you a leg up in the speed game with speeds that can be up to 20 times faster than the competition. 

24/7 live chat and support: A 24/7 live support feature is valuable if your site runs into any kind of technical issues or downtime. A2 has specialists standing by ready to walk you through any troubleshooting issues. 

Free site migration: If you need to migrate your site to A2 from a previous web host they help you get the job done for free. Unlike other providers, there are no extra fees necessary. 

Compatible with a variety of platforms: A2 Hosting works great with a number of CMS solutions like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magento, and OpenCart. You can one-click install them once you sign up. 

Free SSL certification: SSL certification is essential for site security and to ensure your visitors trust your site enough to keep coming back. Thankfully A2 offers this feature for free. 

24/7 malware scanning and monitoring: You can sleep soundly at night knowing A2 is ready to alert you on any attempts at your site with their 24/7 monitoring feature, which other hosting services might not provide.  

Free Cloudflare CDN: To keep adding to their speed features, A2 provides you with a free Cloudflare CDN for any hosting package you choose for added speed and loading times. 

Carbon-neutral hosting: As the world evolves, A2 evolves with it through its carbon-neutral hosting option. A2 supports carbon-neutral hosting, meaning all of their servers are deemed ‘carbon-neutral’ by purchasing carbon offsets. With A2, you can be sure you’re hosting your site without adding to your carbon footprint. 

Can handle websites of all sizes: If you’re planning on growing your website traffic, it doesn’t matter if you’re starting out with a website from scratch or you’re a big business reeling in plenty of traffic and sales, A2 can handle your site’s growth with a wide variety of hosting packages that are all geared for speed.  

Cons

Doesn’t provide a free domain: While this isn’t a requirement for any hosting service to work properly, it’s nice to have the option to register a free domain like other hosting services do, especially if you’re working with a shoestring budget. 

Increased renewal fees: For the most part, increased renewal rates can be expected from just about any hosting provider, but it’s still worth mentioning if you’re thinking and planning long term. Upon renewal, A2’s hosting packages do increase in price. 

A2 Pricing

A2 doesn’t only differentiate itself as a speedy host. They also have a ton—and I mean a ton—of web hosting options from which you can take your pick.

To start, their general hosting services fall into eight distinct categories and subcategories:

  • Shared hosting – best for hosting personal sites and blogs
  • Managed WordPress hosting – perfect for WordPress sites
  • Managed VPS hosting – has more power than shared hosting
  • Unmanaged VPS hosting – Unmanaged VPS for developers
  • Reseller hosting – best for hosting your own customers
  • Dedicated hosting (unmanaged servers) – best for developers
  • Dedicated hosting (core servers) – managed server with root access
  • Dedicated hosting (managed servers) – managed server with no root access

You can definitely start with one of their base options for each category according to your site needs. Especially if you’re a startup on a budget. 

But if you want to take it a step further or want additional features, you can choose a more specific plan within the category of your choice. 

Here’s how their most affordable plans stack up:

Shared Hosting

  • Startup – $2.99 monthly paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Drive – $4.99 monthly paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Turbo Boost – $9.99 monthly paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Turbo Max – $14.99 monthly paid upfront for a three-year plan

Shared hosting works best for small websites that are just getting their start and beginning to see traffic. As you can see, their cheapest plan adds up to only $107 plus some change for a reliable three-year hosting plan. 

Beginner deals like this compete with offers from the likes of Bluehost who offer similar prices but without the speed guarantee, which is a big plus on a shared hosting plan.

As you go up the price ladder, you can host an unlimited number of sites, get unlimited storage, and within the last two tiers, you’ll get a 20X turbo boost for faster site speeds. 

Note that these pricing tiers are the exact same for a Shared WordPress Hosting plan. 

Managed WordPress Hosting

  • 1 site – $12.99 a month paid upfront for three years
  • 3 site – $22.99 a month paid upfront for three years
  • Unlimited – $43.99 a month paid upfront for three years

Managed WordPress hosting is a step up from shared hosting with enhanced WordPress features that ensure security and speed. The biggest difference between the three different options you get within this category is the number of sites you need to manage and the amount of storage you need. It’s as simple as choosing the tier that fits your hosting needs. Thankfully, they all come with the 20X faster turbo speed feature. 

Managed VPS Hosting

  • Lift 8 – $46.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Lift 16 – $57.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Mach 8 – $59.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Mach 16 – $89.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Mach 32 – $99.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan

When you start getting into managed VPS hosting territory, you start looking at increased RAM capabilities and storage capacity. It’s a great option right before you’re ready to step into a dedicated server plan. I recommend you see their pricing page for a full look at what each plan offers. 

Unmanaged VPS Hosting

  • Runway 2 – $7.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Runway 4 – $9.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Supersonic 8 – $34.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Supersonic 16 – $54.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Supersonic 32 – $74.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan

An unmanaged VPS plan ensures your site runs at fast speeds with additional RAM, storage, and root access. Needless to say, this VPS plan is definitely developer-friendly. 

Reseller hosting

  • Kickstart – $18.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Launch – $24.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Grow – $34.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Scale – $44.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan
  • Turbo Kickstart – $29.99 a month paid upfront for a three-year plan

With reseller hosting you get additional SSD storage, WebHost manager, cPanel, Free Blesta billing system, free SSL certificate, around the block guru support, and free website migration too. The more storage and transfer GB you need the more you’ll have to pay monthly. 

Dedicated Hosting (Unmanaged Servers)

  • Sprint – $99.59 monthly
  • Exceed – $165.99 monthly
  • Mach – $248.99 monthly

As you can see, the more storage, RAM, or transfer TB you need the more you’ll have to pay monthly. Dedicated hosting with unmanaged servers is a great option for developers wanting more control. As with any other plan A2 Hosting offers, each tier also includes super fast site loading speeds. 

Dedicated Hosting (Core Servers)

  • Sprint – $141.09 monthly
  • Exceed – $207.49 monthly
  • Mach – $290.49 monthly

Much like the previous tier category above, the more RAM, storage, and Transfer TB you need, the more you’ll need to pay monthly. With a dedicated hosting plan with core servers and root access, you also get all the HostGuard management features. This means:

  • Daily automatic and rebootless updates
  • Managed installs and upgrades of core software
  • Smart system notifications
  • 99.9% uptime commitment
  • Security patches

Dedicated Hosting (Managed Servers)

  • Sprint – $141.09 monthly
  • Exceed – $207.49 monthly
  • Mach – $290.49 monthly

Finally, if you’re running a site that simply can’t afford any downtime and that needs the best A2 Hosting offers, you’ll want to look at their managed dedicated server solutions. But you’ll have to be willing to pay the price tag to get access to perks like lightning-fast speeds, and a dedicated crew you’ll jump at the sight of any hosting issues no matter the time of day. 

Their most affordable managed dedicated server solutions start at $141.09 a month. You can always try them for 30 days to experience their features first hand. If you’re not happy with A2 Hosting’s performance, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee for all their hosting plans. 

A2 Hosting Offerings

At this point, you’ve learned about A2 Hosting’s dedication to speed, uptime, customer support, and a variety of hosting options you can choose from.

However, they do offer additional tools and solutions. You can shop for your preferred domain directly through them and you can also explore their highly specific additional hosting solutions. Here’s what I mean:

Domain

With A2 Hosting you’re definitely going to get the speed and the uptime but you can’t forget about your domain. You can either register a new domain or transfer an existing one to get your site up and running.

Their most popular extensions breakdown as follows:

  • .biz – $17.45
  • .com – $14.95
  • .io – $49.95
  • .net – $14.95
  • .org – $14.95

While you might not get the cheapest deals on domains directly through A2 Hosting, it’s definitely an option that’s there for you if you don’t feel like going through the hassle of transferring one. 

Additional hosting solutions

Yes, you’ve read that right. While we went over plenty of hosting plans and packages earlier, A2 Hosting lets you dig deeper into a seemingly endless rabbit hole of software and hosting solution combinations according to even more specific website needs.

Once you pick the appropriate solution for you, A2 Hosting lines up a combination of the best hosting options and software available to meet your specific needs. 

For instance, if I’m going to be running a classified ad site through them, once I click on that option I’m greeted with a list of popular classified ad software that’s highly compatible with A2 hosting services. I’m also given a comprehensive list of the best web hosting plans perfect for classified ad sites. 

This is an extremely useful feature if you’re running a site with more detailed needs and want to tackle them head-on. Features like these are yet another reason why A2 stands out as a powerful hosting solution for a wide variety of sites in a wide variety of niches. 

The Best Shared Hosting Companies

Don’t forget to read through our in-depth review of the best shared hosting companies. See all of our top picks to make sure you’re making the best choice possible. 

  • Hostinger – The best cheap shared hosting plans
  • Bluehost – The best shared hosting for WordPress
  • A2 Hosting – The best hosting company for speed
  • DreamHost – The best shared hosting features
  • GreenGeeks – Best eco-friendly hosting
  • TMDHosting – The best fully-managed plans

Without question, A2 Hosting is one of the fastest providers I have experience with. It provides around-the-clock support, exclusive global servers, and works great with a number of CMS solutions. What’s more, A2 Hosting even goes out of its way to lessen its carbon footprint. As a hosting provider that’s been around for as long as WordPress has, it stands solidly in our list of top picks as one of the best web host solutions out there. 

The post A2 Hosting Review appeared first on Neil Patel.

What are Google Review Summaries?

What are Google review summaries, and how do they impact consumers’ view of your brand?

First impressions matter. When people search for a business or your specific business name on Google, one of the first things they see is your Google listing and the corresponding reviews. 

Those reviews, positive or negative, impact how they view your brand. 

What others have to say about your brand could impact how people perceive your brand. It could help them decide if they want to do business with you or not. 

It could encourage them to give you a call, visit your website, or stop by your local shop. Or it may encourage them to keep looking for a business with better reviews. 

Let’s talk more about Google review summaries and what they mean for your company.

Intro to Google Review Summaries

Google review summaries are the snippets of three customer reviews for your brand. Using an algorithm, Google automatically chooses three reviews to highlight. 

They are called summaries, because they are just one or two lines pulled from a full review. To read the whole review, searchers can click on the summary. 

Those three review summaries may be positive reviews, negative reviews, or a mixture of those.  

Where Do Your Google Review Summaries Appear?

It starts in the Google Knowledge Panel. 

Even if you aren’t familiar with that name, you probably are still familiar with the Google Knowledge Panel. It is the box of information that shows up in a Google search when you look for a particular brand, especially local or location-based businesses. 

The Google Knowledge Panel includes descriptive information, business address, location on a Google map, contact information, website, hours of operation, questions and answers, popular times, photos, social media profiles, and popular web results. 

It also includes the Google review summaries. The summaries can be found about midway down the Google Knowledge Panel, below the photos. 

Looking for Google Review Summaries

When you search for a local business, such as a store, restaurant, office building, medical practice, and more, Google provides a listing of local options. When you click on one example, the Google Knowledge Panel is displayed. 

That will provide the Google review summaries. 

You can also search directly in Google Maps. Pull up Google Maps to search your current location or type in the area you want to search. Then type in the brand or type of place you’re looking for. 

When you click on each option, you’ll see the Google Knowledge Panel. Scroll down to see the review summaries. 

Looking For Google Review Summaries

How Place Topics Shape Google Review Summaries

Place topics are an element of the Google review summary algorithm that highlights popular keywords related to your brand’s reviews. 

They cannot be chosen by the brand owner, or by reviewers. They are simply generated automatically by Google, if a brand has enough reviews. Although according to Google, that threshold number is not specified. 

Here’s an example of place topics in a Google review summary for a grocery store. You’ll see some of the highlighted topics are insightful, such as “lunch meat” while others are rather generic. 

This speaks to the automated algorithm that just pulls in commonly used phrases. 

How Place Topics Shape Google Review Summaries

These are more useful when many reviewers speak about a certain product or service, or other phrase that helps viewers understand more about what makes a brand unique. 

Where Google Review Summaries Come From

They come from Google reviews that are submitted by users on Google maps. Those who have visited a specific location can log in to their Google account, find a place on Google maps, and choose to submit a review and star rating. 

Google review summaries are pulled from those reviews. 

How Impactful Are Google Review Summaries?

These review summaries can impact how customers perceive your brand, even before they contact you or stop by your location. 

They could decide to scroll by or click on a competitor, if they aren’t seeing reviews that impress them. Alternatively, they may choose to click on your website, check out your location, or contact you directly to get more information about your brand. 

Do reviews really matter to customers? 

The statistics say yes. In general, reviews influence buyers. Almost 90 percent of buyers read reviews to make their buying decisions, according to BrightLocal. According to that same report, a majority are only impacted by reviews written in the last three months. A large portion of those same consumers only consider reviews written in the last two weeks. 

A quarter of consumers look to customer reviews with every online purchase they make, according to this PowerReviews report.  

It’s not just the words that Google highlights in the reviews that people read in the summaries. A big factor in people making decisions about your brand is the star factor. The star ratings make Google review summaries stand out. 

According to this report, over half of consumers say that a star rating is the most important review factor. A large majority say that a trust-worthy brand should have three or more stars in a five-star system, like Google reviews. 

So yes, reviews do impact buyer behavior and your brand’s reputation. But there’s more to the Google review summaries than the impression they leave on consumers. 

They can also have an impact on SEO. 

According to this report, reviews actually aid in your search engine optimization strategy. Although they are only a part of an SEO strategy, reviews help with creating more generated content and rank for the right keywords.  

In addition to those Google reviews that support SEO, you can continue to boost that by responding to Google reviews. 

Google also stated that interacting with consumer Google reviews for your brand can improve visibility. In other words, staying up-to-date in responding to reviews can improve your SEO.

That means more people will see your brand, see those Google review summaries, and hopefully leave reviews so you can respond. Reviews actually create a cycle of more reviews and better SEO. 

How to Get Positive Google Review Summaries 

By design, Google reviews and Google review summaries are not something business owners have direct control over. Otherwise, everyone would go in and manipulate things to shed the best light on their business! 

Does that mean that getting positive reviews is completely outside your direction? Not at all. 

The best thing you can do is to run a business with the customer in mind. It sounds obvious, but it’s truly the best way to get the positive feedback you’re hoping for. 

In our busy world, it’s easy to lose sight of the customer, but at the end of the day, they control not only the reviews, but also your income. 

Sometimes, the old adage really does need to ring true: the customer is always right. 

Ensure Customers Have a Good Experience

The first step is to audit the entire customer service experience. This can be a part of your overall brand audit. 

Think about every touch point your customers have with your business, from first learning about your products and services, to asking questions, to purchasing, and the follow up. 

Take a step back and dig deep. Ask the hard questions. Are you still offering a quality product? Are you still meeting a market need? If you aren’t getting rave reviews, it may be time to make some tweaks to ensure you are providing products and services your target market really needs. 

Ask for Reviews

It’s simple, but effective. 

To get more Google reviews, sometimes all you need to do is ask. There are lots of ways to convince your customers to review your brand, but just asking is a good place to start. You can include a link to your Google location in an email or social media post, encouraging happy customers to share their feedback. 

Ask your most loyal customers to leave feedback. Those who are most satisfied with your product or services are often eager to share that happiness with others and are most likely to provide positive reviews. 

Of course, keep in mind that you can’t tell them what to say, and even your happiest customers may be painfully honest about a less-than-ideal experience they had with you or a bad day with your product or service. 

That’s why the first tip is the most important. Always look for ways to provide the best service you can. 

Respond to Google Reviews (Good and Bad!) 

Keep the good vibes going. When people respond well with positive reviews, you can hop in there and thank them. Responding to Google reviews adds to your social proof and brings some humanity to your brand. 

Don’t just wait for negative reviews to respond, as we will discuss below. Encourage more positive reviews by showing that you really are reading reviews and taking them to heart. 

What to Do When You Have Negative Google Review Summaries

Like it or not, negative reviews happen. 

In a customer-driven system like Google review, you don’t have full control over what is posted about your brand. In fact, negative reviews can be a good thing—they show your brand is real. 

When those bad reviews happen, here’s how to respond. 

First, Relax

No one wants to hear bad news about their brand, especially when you work hard to provide a great experience, as we talked about above. 

But there’s hardly a business owner who hasn’t come up against this kind of conflict. The first thing to do is take a deep breath and understand that businesses need negative reviews. They add to the authenticity of your brand. 

Consumers understand that not everyone is going to have a perfect experience with every brand. 

Put It in Perspective

Sometimes negative reviews can shine light on positive aspects of your brand. 

When a customer reads a review about how something didn’t work for them, for instance, other customers can learn more about what you do offer. 

Imagine a customer complaining that they couldn’t find a meat option at your vegetarian restaurant. It’s an exaggerated example, but shows how a negative review could be a positive for some readers.

Decide How to Act

Have a “negative review plan” in place, well before your first one rolls in. It’s important to remember the reputation you want your business to have, and to keep the long game in mind. Google recommends responding quickly, honestly, and with a level of positivity. 

If you think a review is inappropriate or violates Google’s policies, if it’s particularly vile, etc., you can request that it be removed. Remember, you can’t just have a review removed because you disagree with it or don’t want it out there. 

Think About the Ratios

There’s no perfect number of reviews for everyone, but when it comes to reviews think about the ratios. One bad review isn’t going to hurt you if you have dozens of positive reviews. 

To get an idea of how you’re doing, think like a customer. How will they read the negative reviews in light of your positive ones? Would one negative review impact your buying decision? In most cases, one or two bad reviews (especially if they are several months old) won’t impact your brand. 

Conclusion

Google review summaries are social proof. They give your brand authenticity and shed light on your company when people Google you. 

These kinds of online reviews help customers understand what you’re all about and how you’ve helped people in the past. To improve the quality of your Google review summaries, start by working to get more online reviews. 

Don’t forget the power of responding to reviews—whether they are good or bad. Customers expect some bad reviews, but how you respond can make all the difference. 

How do Google review summaries help you make purchasing decisions?

The post What are Google Review Summaries? appeared first on Neil Patel.

GoDaddy Review

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

GoDaddy hosts millions of websites all over the world as a giant in the hosting and domain name selling game. Its long list of products offers just about anything you might need to get a website up and running on a shoestring budget, at least for the first year. 

After lots of research, comparison, and consideration, it’s safe to say GoDaddy satisfies most of your website needs, especially if it’s your first time building a site and you want affordable VPS hosting. 

Beyond that, and as with any other web hosting and domain name provider, there are solid pros and cons to its plans and packages. 

GoDaddy Compared to The Best Cheap Web Hosting

I curated a top list of affordable web hosting providers, so you know your options if you need to start a website on a budget. GoDaddy is one of the best choices if you want hosting that’s a step above shared hosting with its affordable VPS hosting plan. For the price that some hosting providers would charge for shared hosting, you can get VPS hosting through GoDaddy. 

But, if you’re trying to find a more robust web hosting solution for your web project, GoDaddy does start to get expensive quickly. That’s why I deem it a great option for starter sites that can do with either shared or dedicated hosting and that don’t need tons of server power to run well. 

You don’t have to make a hosting decision in a hurry, though. See all of my top picks to make a more informed decision. 

Who is GoDaddy Best For?

GoDaddy is great for beginner website owners that want an affordable and convenient start for their websites with generous storage. GoDaddy also does well with around-the-clock site security monitoring, but perks like SSL certificates are add-ons you’ll have to purchase as extras. 

This is why it’s a great hosting option for smaller and beginner websites working with a budget and don’t need too many robust website solutions. 

GoDaddy: The Pros and Cons

There’s no question GoDaddy is one of the biggest names out there as far as how recognizable it is. It also houses the most domains globally, with over 17 million domain names on its roster. 

Still, there are pros and cons to choosing GoDaddy as your web hosting provider. Here are the more prominent ones to take into account.

Pros

24/7 support: GoDaddy ensures it’s always within reach if you ever need a hand or run into trouble with your site. You can either reach them by phone or use its handy chat support option. 

Lots of storage: When you look through and compare GoDaddy’s hosting plans, it’s generous with its unmetered bandwidth feature for all tiers.  

Affordable .com domain: GoDaddy offers you the chance to snag a domain for only 99 cents  for the first year, which can save you money as you begin. 

Unlimited site hosting: Most GoDaddy plans let you host an unlimited number of websites except for its cheapest Economy plan. 

Convenience: Since you can manage your domain and website in one place, GoDaddy offers convenience in managing both from one dashboard. 

Cons

Constant upsells: GoDaddy is notorious when it comes to its upsells through every step of the checkout process. While it does honor the prices for each tier if that’s all you’re going for, it’s quick to suggest add-ons and extra features you might not need. 

Expensive renewal rate: This is one of the reasons why I think GoDaddy is great for beginner sites that just want to get their foot in the door with hosting. Once that initial year is up, GoDaddy’s renewal rates can start to get costly for what you get. 

Charges for add-ons: Other hosting providers throw in free first-year domain registration, for example, or include free SSL certification as part of its plans. GoDaddy does not always include these features depending on the plan you choose and can charge extra for them.  

Inconsistent customer support: Support for GoDaddy isn’t always top-notch as convenience and reliability are concerned. There is always the possibility of long wait times to be connected to the right person. 

GoDaddy Pricing

GoDaddy’s prices can be broken down into two main categories: Domain name purchases and hosting plans.

Domain Names

One of GoDaddy’s strengths is its huge list of domain name extensions. Its cheapest .com option, which is also one of the most popular extensions, is affordable for only 99 cents for the first year. 

If you happen to choose a hosting plan that doesn’t include a free domain name, a 99-cent .com extension isn’t a terrible price to pay. 

GoDaddy makes it easy to create, search for, or check on your domain name’s availability. GoDaddy offers some of the most affordable domain name plans out there as far as introductory pricing goes. 

Hosting Plans

Here’s a closer look at each of GoDaddy’s hosting plans:

Web Hosting

  • Economy – $5.99 a month
  • Deluxe – $7.99 a month
  • Ultimate – $12.99 a month
  • Maximum – $19.99 a month

WordPress Hosting

  • Basic – $6.99 a month
  • Deluxe – $9.99 a month
  • Ultimate – $12.99 a month
  • Ecommerce – $15.99 a month

WordPress Ecommerce Hosting – Starting at $15.99 a month

Business Hosting

  • Shared Hosting – $5.99 a month
  • Business Hosting – $19.99 a month
  • VPS Hosting – $4.99 a month

VPS Hosting

  • 1 vCPU – $4.99 a month
  • 2 vCPU – $19.99 a month
  • 4 vCPU – $39.99 a month
  • 8 v CPU – $69.99 a month

Dedicated Server

  • DS 32 – $129.99 a month
  • DS 64 – $169.99 a month
  • DS 128 – $299.99 a month
  • DS 256 – $399.99 a month

Windows Hosting – Starting at $5.99 a month

  • Economy – $5.99
  • Deluxe – $7.99
  • Ultimate – $12.99

Reseller Hosting – Starting at $39.99 a month 

  • Enhanced – $39.99
  • Grow – $49.99
  • Expand – $64.99
  • Established – $89.99

It’s safe to say GoDaddy offers a ton of hosting plans that cover anything you might need. A giant list of 27 different hosting plans leaves little to be desired. 

I highly recommend you spend the time carefully walking through each hosting option and its corresponding tier according to your site’s needs. 

If you know you’re going to be using WordPress as your CMS, then you’ll want to pay special attention to its WordPress solutions. They’re geared for SEO compatibility, speed, and ease of use once you sign up for a hosting account. 

I’d like to highlight GoDaddy’s VPS hosting plan, as it’s one of the most affordable on the market. Other big-name hosting providers don’t even come close to how affordable GoDaddy’s VPS hosting plans are. You can’t beat a $4.99 price point for a self-managed virtual private server plan. 

GoDaddy Offerings

GoDaddy hasn’t gotten as big as it has without offering an extensive list of website building and hosting options. Once you land on the homepage, it can be overwhelming and hard to know where to start. 

To simplify its long list of plans and tools, there are three main categories its product offerings fall under. Let’s take a closer look at each one and how they stack up. 

GoDaddy Name & Protect

GoDaddy Name & Protect offers some useful domain tools:

  • Domain name transfers
  • Domain name generator
  • Domain name search and WHOIS tools
  • SSL Certification
  • Website backup tools
  • Protect against malware and site attacks

If you’re starting a website, you know you’ll need a domain name, and this is where GoDaddy shines. It’s the biggest repository of domain names, and it’s sure to have the domain name you’re looking for.

If you happen to want a domain name that’s taken, you can try out its domain brokerage services or try the domain name generator to come up with a new site name.  

Like any other reputable hosting provider, GoDaddy also offers SSL certification, website backup tools, and your standard protection against malicious cyber attacks. 

Because GoDaddy offers plenty of usable domain tools, it’s frequently rated as one of the most popular hosting providers out there. 

But the fun doesn’t stop there. GoDaddy also offers plenty of website building and growth tools. 

Go Daddy Build & Grow

GoDaddy’s Build & Grow product offerings include:

  • Website builder
  • Online store builder for ecommerce sites
  • An extensive array of hosting options
  • Email and Microsoft 365 tools
  • Second mobile phone number
  • Digital marketing suite
  • GoDaddy marketing services

If I were to list every single tool GoDaddy offered its customers, we’d be here forever. As a web host and domain name registrar, GoDaddy seems to have taken the route of going wide instead of going deep with its key features and offerings. 

This can either appeal to you as a customer or turn you off and onto other hosting providers. It all comes down to what you value in a web host and what you’re willing to invest or need to manage your site successfully. 

The most important feature in GoDaddy’s Build & Grow product offering is its buffet of web hosting options. Here’s a more in-depth look at each.

Web Hosting: GoDaddy’s most basic hosting plan starts at $5.99 a month. Not quite as cheap as other beginner-friendly hosts, but still considerably affordable and great for starter sites that want to build their online presence. 

WordPress Hosting: WordPress hosting is specifically optimized for WordPress users in terms of speed and accessibility. WordPress plans start at $6.99 for basic hosting perks, including 30 GB of storage along with a free domain, free business email, and free SSL certificate. This plan works for you if your site hoovers around the 25,000 visitor mark. With three additional WordPress tiers, the deal only gets sweeter the more you pay per month. 

WordPress Ecommerce Hosting: GoDaddy has solutions for ecommerce hosting as well, with plans starting at $15.99 a month along with free WooCommerce extensions. Once you sign up to one of its WooCommerce tiers, you’ll easily be able to download and install WordPress and WooCommerce together to get up and running in no time. 

Business Hosting: A business hosting plan comes with more dedicated resources, but with a simplified control panel, so you don’t need a full IT team to manage your site. Plans start at $5.99 a month for shared hosting, which you can eventually upgrade as your site grows.

VPS Hosting: GoDaddy’s self-managed virtual private hosting plan is definitely one of its redeeming offers because of how affordable it is for developers and system administrators that want a more hands-on approach to their websites with plenty of customizable options. Plans start at just $4.99 a month, and it comes with one CPU Core, one GB RAM, and 100 GB SSD Storage. This is a steal when compared to what other websites charge for similar VPS hosting packages. 

Windows Hosting: Yet another solid GoDaddy option for Windows fans that starts at just $5.99 a month and comes with a free domain, 100 GB of storage, and a free Office365 email for your first year. If you’re already using Windows products, this can be a great plan to integrate into what’s already working. 

Reseller Hosting: Are you a reseller looking for reliable hosting resale options? GoDaddy lets you use its servers to build your own hosting business, starting at just $39.99 a month. If you’re in a unique position where you need more hosting options, you’ll have to give them a call to strike a deal with its sales team. 

Dedicated Server: GoDaddy has over eight powerful dedicated server plans you can choose from, each with its own set of isolated resources at your disposal. This is perfect for system developers and agencies looking for fast and reliable server capabilities. 

Plans can start as low as $129.99 a month. If you’re a beginner building a website for the first time, plans like these aren’t necessary to successfully build and grow your site. But it’s still good to know you have the option of powerful dedicated servers if you were to need it in the future. 

GoDaddy doesn’t hold back in giving you plenty of customized web hosting options. But it’s up to you to decide which tiers are right for you according to your website goals. 

This is what makes GoDaddy so beginner-friendly. It caters to basic hosting needs as well as more advanced options with specific server needs.         

GoDaddy Pro

The GoDaddy Pro dashboard is where developers and resellers can manage client projects. A hub where you can manage all your tools, content, support, and discounts, as well as get in touch with GoDaddy support. 

Since I’m recommending GoDaddy as a great host provider for beginners, the GoDaddy Pro dashboard might not be a necessary tool for you if you aren’t a webmaster or reseller. But it’s a free option if you’re interested in signing up for it. And it’s another way to get in touch with support. 

The Best Cheap Web Hosting Provider

My team and I have created an in-depth review for the best cheap web hosting providers on the market you’ll want to read before making any real hosting decisions that you can see here. Here’s a quick recap:

  1. Hostinger — Best Web Hosting Plan Under $1
  2. Bluehost — The Best Value in Web Hosting
  3. A2 Hosting — The Best Customer Service
  4. HostGator — The Best Cheap Cloud Hosting
  5. iPage — Best Cheap Web Hosting Features
  6. GoDaddy — The Best Cheap Hosting for Beginners

Overall, GoDaddy is a great cheap hosting provider for beginner websites who’d like affordable VPS hosting, especially in their first year. It’s a more budget-conscious option than others out there, and it offers plenty of add-ons you can choose to include in your plan, so you’re never left without the hosting tools you need to succeed.

Once you’ve made up your mind on a hosting plan, you can get started with GoDaddy here.

The post GoDaddy Review appeared first on Neil Patel.

SiteGround Review

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SiteGround is one of the most popular web hosting providers out there. Over two million website users trust SiteGround for their hosting needs. 

They offer a wide range of hosting options, plans at different price points, and phenomenal customer support. Whether you’re a small blog, medium-sized business, or large online store, SiteGround has an option for you. 

In a nutshell, SiteGround is a host that your business can grow with, which is pretty darn important. 

SiteGround Compared to The Best WordPress Web Hosts

SiteGround fares exceptionally well against other products in its category. It’s without a doubt a key contender for top web hosting for WordPress services. 

But what I love most about it is that they’re both extremely scalable and dedicated to supporting your WordPress website. 

Whether you’ve got 10,000, 25,000, or 100,000 visitors, there is a plan for you. There is also room for exponential growth for websites starting out without committing to the highest available plan. 

SiteGround also supports your WordPress website with their specifically designed features (which we’ll discuss below) and their 24/7 WordPress wizard customer support team. 

But I appreciate that you may have different needs or wish to explore your hosting options a bit further before committing to one host. 

That’s why we’ve taken the time to research and test some of the top web hosts for WordPress for you. Be sure to see all of my top picks before making your decision. 

Who is SiteGround Best For?

If I were extremely broad, I would say SiteGround is excellent for just about anyone who wants to host their website on WordPress. 

But to get specific, I’d say SiteGround is best for a small website owner who has little to no experience running a website and expects their website to grow over time. With flexible plans and excellent customer support, SiteGround is great for beginners and scaling over time.

SiteGround: The Pros and Cons

The Pros

Top-Notch Customer Support: Ever had seemingly unresolvable issues with technology and tried everything under the sun to fix it to no avail? Yeah, me too. 

Building a website doesn’t have to be scary or traumatic when you have SiteGround support on your side—your wish is their command. The customer support team is phenomenal. They receive almost a 100% satisfaction rating every year. 

Their 24/7 support comes via a live chat channel, phone support, and a helpdesk ticketing system. Even the most complex issues are resolved in an average time of 15 minutes, meaning you can get back to business asap. 

These things are super important for a beginning website owner to combat the inevitable challenges they face.

WordPress Recommended: SiteGround hosts over 80% of the two million domains on WordPress. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that they are experts at managing WordPress. 

Many of the support team are highly trained in WordPress and will happily assist you with WordPress related troubleshooting, compared to other hosts, who will simply tell you it’s not their issue (which truthfully, it isn’t). 

This is also why SiteGround has developed and implemented WordPress-specific features, such as the SG Optimizer, WP Auto Update, and Supercacher, in their plans. I’ve not come across another host that can boast such features, so SiteGround stands out in this area.

Low Introductory Price & Money-Back Guarantee: With a monthly hosting solution starting as low as $6.99 per month, SiteGround is a perfect option for even the most beginner website creators. 

Furthermore, the lead-in hosting plan includes all of the key features a new website owner would want in a plan, rather than having the absolute bare-bones to get the user to commit to a higher plan immediately. 

If something goes wrong, or your website doesn’t function the way you expect it to, you can get a full refund of your hosting fees within 30 days of signup.

Excellent Uptime & Site Speed: Uptime and site speed go hand-in-hand. Uptime refers to the amount of time the server stays up and running, while site speed refers to how quickly your website loads. 

You can see below that SiteGround’s average uptime over 12 months is 99.98%, with only 73 minutes of total downtime over the whole year. Reliable uptime means your website is virtually guaranteed to be running around the clock, keeping visitors happy.

Have you ever heard the notion that if your page doesn’t load within three seconds tops, you’ll lose the visitor’s interest? 

You won’t have to worry about that with SiteGround. They claim that they load your website four times faster than other hosts, so you won’t have to worry about visitors losing interest while waiting for your graphics to load. 

And, as you’ll see here, their slowest load time between 2019 to 2020 was 693 ms. 

Free Website Transfer: Many people are worried about making the switch to a new host. After all, it’s a scary process. What if you lose your entire website or cause irreparable damage? 

With SiteGround, you don’t need to worry. They’ll do it for you.

Most hosts will just move the files over. But SiteGround will also make the necessary tweaks to ensure everything is working smoothly for you after the transition. 

No blood, sweat, tears, or big bucks required in switching to a new host. SiteGround includes the WordPress migrator plugin in their plans, though if you prefer a professional to do it, it will cost you only $30 per website. 

Free Daily Back-Up: Most hosts will only back your website up every other day or even once a week. So, if anything happens to your website that you can’t fix, you might be forced to go back an entire week, meaning you’ll lose everything you’ve done in the meantime. 

But, with SiteGround, the worst-case scenario is that you’ll only lose the changes you’d made in the 24 hours since the last back-up. If that’s not peace of mind for someone making constant changes to their website, I don’t know what is! 

Great for Scalability: When you’re just starting out in business, there is no way but up, right? With SiteGround’s flexible range of plans, you don’t have to worry about outgrowing your host. Simply upgrade your plan as your business grows.  

The Cons

Renewal Price: As dreamy as the promotional rates of SiteGround’s hosting plans are, once the honeymoon is over, it’s truly over. 

When you renew, your rates will jump up quite high. The cost of your plan will essentially triple across the board once your promotional period is over. Ouch.

The best way to combat this is to sign up for the longest term available on the promotional period, which is either 24 or 36 months before you face the higher renewal rates.

No Monthly Billing Cycle: The higher renewal rates might be easier to cop if you could pay month-to-month. But unfortunately, monthly billing is not something that SiteGround offers. 

Personally, this is not a deal-breaker for me, but I can certainly appreciate how it may be restrictive and frustrating for some.

Storage Limitations: The low amount of storage space available on the shared hosting plans is unlikely to bother most of you reading this post. However, if your site does grow beyond 40 GB, you’ll have no choice but to switch to the more expensive cloud hosting plans. 

The StartUp plan includes just 10,000 site visitors, so if your website traffic grows exponentially too quickly off the bat, you may find yourself needing to upgrade your plan sooner than you think. 

SiteGround Pricing

SiteGround offers three tiers for their hosting options:

  • StartUp
  • GrowBig
  • GoGeek

These tiers’ pricing remains the same across the board for web hosting, WordPress hosting, and WooCommerce hosting. Cloud hosting has its own levels and pricing, which we’ll discuss. 

StartUp 

As the name suggests, this plan is perfect for those new to business or looking for smaller websites. The StartUp plan allows you one website, 10 GB of space, and up to 10,000 monthly visitors. Pricing starts at $6.99 per month on the introductory offer. 

Some other features included in this plan are:

  • Free WordPress Installation
  • Free SSL
  • Daily Backup
  • Free Cloudflare CDN
  • Free Email 

Overall, it’s a great plan for those who are just getting started. The only thing to be wary of is outgrowing your monthly visitors limit. If you think you’re going to scale quickly, it would be worth starting straight off with the GrowBig plan.

GrowBig  

The GrowBig plan is perfect for medium-sized businesses or those who know they will be managing more than one website. You’ll have access to unlimited websites, 20 GB of web space, and up to 25,000 monthly visitors. Pricing starts at $9.99 per month on the introductory offer. 

Aside from the features included in the StartUp plan, this plan also includes:

  • On-demand Backup copies
  • Speed-boosting Caching 
  • Staging environment 
  • Add collaborators to your site

It’s easy to understand why GrowBig is SiteGround’s best-selling plan. It includes a range of great features that are easy to use and will fit the brief most in need of a website out there that expects a steady traffic flow. 

GoGeek

The GoGeek is the most extensive shared hosting plan SiteGround has to offer. As the name suggests, it’s designed for ‘technology geeks’ who want lots of control over their website. 

The GoGeek plan will give you unlimited websites, 40 GB of web space, and up to 100,000 monthly visits. Needless to say, it’s truly designed for large businesses with a high volume of traffic. Pricing starts at $14.99 per month on the introductory offer. 

The GoGeek plan includes all the features mentioned above, as well as: 

  • Register your clients with white-label access to Site Tools
  • Use more server resources for higher process execution time
  • Ultrafast PHP for faster page loads
  • Priority support from SiteGround’s most experienced customer support agents

In a nutshell, this plan is for those of you who know what you’re doing with websites. If you don’t understand some of the plan’s technological features, it may not be the best plan for you. Unless, of course, you have a specialist on your team to manage your website and need access to high volume traffic capabilities. 

Cloud Hosting

We’ll touch on the cloud hosting product offerings shortly, but in terms of pricing, there are four plans for SiteGround’s cloud hosting: Entry, Business, Business Plus, and Super Power. 

As you can see in the screenshot below, the pricing ranges from $110 to $410 per month. The major difference in the plans is CPU cores, memory, and SSD space. 

Due to the easy scalability of the cloud hosting options (which you’ll learn about shortly), you can confidently start with the Entry plan if it’s your first time using cloud hosting. 

SiteGround Offerings

SiteGround Web Hosting

SiteGround offers fast and secure web hosting for websites of any kind. Their general web hosting product is optimized for a range of Content Management Systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and more. 

You’ll be able to build and launch your website quickly and easily with their full website solution, including your choice of site builder: WordPress or Weebly. If you’re an online store, you’ll be able to install the shopping cart of your choice for free. 

Domain registration is easy and affordable with SiteGround, so you’ll be able to enjoy the convenience of managing both your domain and your site in one place. 

You’ll also have access to an unlimited number of email accounts when you create your domain, which is perfect for managing different areas of your business. 

SiteGround WordPress Hosting

SiteGround is one of the few web hosting companies that offer hosting options specifically for WordPress. As mentioned previously, they are even highly recommended directly by WordPress. 

With SiteGround, you won’t need to download and install WordPress manually. Instead, you’ll be able to automate the process with a simple click of a button using the WordPress Launch feature. 

Upon login to your new website, you’ll be prompted to set your site up simply and easily with SiteGround’s WordPress Starter kit. The whole process takes minutes from start to finish, even for a beginner!

One of the most popular features of SiteGround’s WordPress hosting is the free SiteGround Migrator plugin. This feature is perfect for users who may hold their website with another host and wish to transfer over to SiteGround. 

Better yet, if you’re not confident in your abilities to navigate the migrator plugin, you can have a WordPress whiz from SiteGround do it for you for an additional fee. 

SiteGround WooCommerce Hosting

SiteGround also offers hosting options for users looking to build a powerful online shop using WooCommerce. This plan comes with WooCommerce pre-installed, saving you time and hassle, allowing you to straightaway focus on uploading products to your online store. 

With WooCommerce, you can sell any type of product or service online. SiteGround will support your ecommerce growth by keeping your website safe with a unique AI anti-bot system, free pre-installed SSL, and custom Web Application Firewall (WAF).

If you choose the WooCommerce GrowBig or GoGeek plan, SiteGround will also include a convenient staging tool. You’ll be able to develop your store safely, testing changes and updates made on the staging copy before going live. 

SiteGround Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is a relatively new way to host websites. It’s an ideal solution for businesses and websites of medium to larger sizes, who have the capacity to grow very quickly. If you are starting to outgrow your shared hosting plan, cloud hosting is the next step. 

SiteGround’s cloud hosting will provide you with guaranteed resources with your very own RAM and CPU. You can also upgrade the RAM, CPU, and disk space of your cloud plan at any time. Better yet, there is no downtime with this process—the resources are added immediately. 

If you want to automate the scaling process, you can do that, too! SiteGround’s unique auto-scale option will adjust your CPU and RAM to meet the needs of unexpected traffic surges, preventing any slowness or downtime. 

The best part is that the scalable amount is pre-determined by you, so you’ll still have control over the scale’s parameters. 

Finally, cloud hosting with SiteGround will also include a free dedicated IP. This feature will give you peace of mind that your website is safe from IP blacklist due to other webmasters’ actions.

The Best WordPress Web Hosting Service

Not sold that SiteGround is the perfect match for you? Or maybe you simply want to know what else is out there, so you can ensure you’ve chosen the best of the best. I get it. 

That’s why we’ve written a whole post about the Best WordPress Web Hosting Services out there. Here are the contenders I’ve reviewed:

1. Bluehost — Best WordPress Hosting For New Websites
2. DreamHost — Most Versatile WordPress Hosting Plans
3. Nexcess — The Best For Customized Managed Hosting Solutions
4. SiteGround — The Best For Scalable Traffic
5. WP Engine — Best Managed WordPress Hosting
6. A2 Hosting — The Best For Site Migrations
7. IONOS by 1&1 — The Best For Pro Users

The bottom line: Would I recommend SiteGround for your web hosting needs? Absolutely.

They have a range of plans to suit any business and budget, and they compete well with their competitors in terms of features. They excel in site speed time and offer phenomenal customer service. With all this in mind, they are a sound choice. 

The post SiteGround Review appeared first on Neil Patel.

DreamHost Review

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Founded in 1996, DreamHost is one of the oldest web hosting services to date. Hosting over 1.5 million websites with 400,000 customers and 750,000 WordPress installations—I think DreamHost is one of the best web hosting services for most website owners. 

With extensive product offerings that aren’t just limited to hosting plans, DreamHost can help you integrate domain names, website builders, and email hosting into your website efficiently and affordably. 

It’s web hosting with a purpose and will make sure your site is fast, secure, and up to date for your visitors.   

DreamHost Compared to The Best Web Hosting Services

Compared to other web hosting services, DreamHost is a more well-rounded and inclusive option, with an extensive range of website hosting products for different needs. 

DreamHost is my top pick for quick and responsive website changes because of its dedication to excel and adapt to new trends. Not only that, DreamHost also has a passion for privacy, security, and is employee-owned, so they have a strong focus on its users and their individual needs. 

I reviewed dozens of different web hosting services and narrowed it down to the top eight options. I looked at each option to see who it’s best for, what options there are to choose from, and how to choose the right one. 

See all of my top picks and get an in-depth analysis of each one to make the best buying decision for your website needs. 

Who is DreamHost Best For? 

With its low price and high quality, DreamHost is an excellent option for most website owners. This may seem broad, but hear me out. 

DreamHost is the most inclusive web hosting service for both small and large businesses working on different sized projects. This is because it has a high enough performance speed, customer support, and reliable uptime for most website owners. 

Whether you’re in the blogging or site developing niche, DreamHost will offer sturdy and dependable hosting support at an affordable price. 

Because it supports SSDs and high-level technology, DreamHost makes it easy for users to customize their control panel with no issues. 

From beginners to tech-savvy users, DreamHost knows that your website is your future, making it the best for most website owners who are looking for extra support and high-quality performance. 

DreamHost: Pros and Cons 

Even the best web hosting services have flaws, and it’s important to weigh up the pros and cons of a product before purchasing to make sure each element contributes to your preferences and the success of your site. Below is a list of the pros and cons for DreamHost.

Pros 

Affordable pricing: DreamHost is one of the most affordable web hosting services on the market, which we will cover later on. To make it short and sweet, DreamHost offers a nice variety of pricing plans you can customize to pay for in either monthly or annual installments. 

Monthly payments start at $4.95, whereas annual prices start at $3.95 per month, which means you save more by paying annually. This is a rarity for web hosting services, as many of its competitors seem to charge more for annual payment options. 

Automated integrations: DreamHost offers automatic integration and one-click installation for a few CMS options, such as WordPress, MediaWiki, and Joomla. 

This is a major advantage for most users because it gives them the option to choose a different website and transition with ease. It’s even easier for users who already use one of the supported CMS options because DreamHost will install it for you with one click. 

The most popular CMS option DreamHost supports is WordPress, and you will have the easiest time integrating this specific option with your hosting provider. DreamHost also allows you to choose any WordPress theme or plugin for your website. Essentially, you will have full control of your website’s appearance, while DreamHost does all the nitty-gritty behind the scenes. 

Extensive customer support: Another significant feature of DreamHost is its comprehensive customer support base. There are two main ways to contact them for free support via your control panel, including live chat and email support. 

Live chat operates seven days a week from 5:30 am-9:30 pm Pacific Time, while the DreamHost support team strives to answer all emails within 24 hours. However, if you feel you need extra guidance for technical issues, DreamHost does offer a callback service for an additional fee. 

Because callbacks aren’t included in your hosting package by default, you will have to add them. You can choose to add three callbacks per month for a nominal monthly fee or a one-time callback feature for a fee as well. 

Not only does DreamHost offer those support services, but they also have dedicated pages for knowledge base questions, system status, tech support, and discussion forums.  

High-quality performance and speed: DreamHost offers incredible performance and speed that will permanently transform your website’s quality. 

For example, DreamHost specifically designs products to be compatible with WordPress for optimal performance. This ensures seamless and fluid integration between DreamHost and your WordPress website, making it run at peak speed. 

Another great performance feature involves the use of SSDs. With DreamHost SSDs, your overall website, data, and caching are 200 percent faster than old HDDs. With lightning-fast speeds and a loading time of 2.35 seconds, your visitors can scroll your website without lag and won’t get caught up in unnecessary wait times. 

DreamHost also guarantees 100% reliable uptime, so your site will always be online and functioning to its maximum potential. With emergency generators, constant monitoring, redundant cooling, and data center locations, your website will never operate as well as it does with DreamHost.  

Cons 

Additional fees for advanced features: If you’re looking for a more comprehensive web hosting service that offers advanced features and tools to transform your website, unfortunately, DreamHost lacks a little in this department. 

In the beginning it’s possible to build your website for next to nothing—but there are some additional costs involved for those looking at extensive support. For example, DreamHost offers products outside of web hosting like website builders, G suite, design services, and marketing tools. 

However, they all cost extra and can become quite pricey, as they aren’t included in your hosting package. If you do want additional support all from one platform for the added convenience, you’re looking at forking out an extra $2.95 per month for website building up to $1,499 for design services. 

Even though a few of the features are quite affordable for monthly payments, if you want more professional services, it’s something you would want to re-evaluate and plan for in your budget. 

The Shared Starter plan doesn’t include email hosting: Although email hosting costs an extra $1.67 per month per mailbox for the shared starter plan, which is still reasonably affordable—it’s also an additional cost for those who wish to purchase the starter plan as a complete beginner with little tech experience. 

This is especially pertinent when it costs an extra $9 per month for the next plan with unlimited email hosting. This can be a disadvantage for website owners looking for a cheaper plan that aligns more with their budget. 

DreamHost Pricing 

A major benefit when choosing DreamHost as your web hosting provider is the price. It is one of the most affordable products on the market when you weigh it up against the high-quality services it provides to its users. DreamHost offers three main hosting plans you can pay annually for a discount, including:  

Each of these three plans, Shared, DreamPress, and VPS, have additional options within the plan.

For example, Shared Starter and Shared Unlimited, DreamPress, DreamPress plus, and DreamPress Pro. And then the VPS plan is broken down into amount of storage, from 30 GB SSD storage on VPS Basic to 240 DB SSD storage on VPS Enterprise. There are two additional VPS plan options between those.

Let’s begin with the Shared plan. The Shared Starter option is brilliant for beginners who have one new website and aren’t sure where to start. It offers the basic tools your website will need for hosting, like one WordPress website, a free domain, and unlimited bandwidth. 

For $3.95 per month paid annually, users also get a bang for their buck with the WP website builder and free automated WordPress integrations. These usually start between $2.59-$9.95 per month, so having both included in the plan for free is an enormous value to your business.

DreamHost also offers the Shared Unlimited plan, which includes everything in the Shared Starter plan, plus unlimited emailing and websites for $9.95 per month paid annually. This would be a good plan for users that have multiple websites who need different email accounts. 

The next main DreamHost pricing plan is DreamPress. You save 15 percent by paying annually at $16.95 per month. This plan includes everything the Shared Unlimited plan has and includes on-demand backups, jetpack free pre-installation, and one-click staging. 

This plan is more suited for users who already have a WordPress website specifically, as it’s created to co-exist with this builder seamlessly. 

There are two other DreamPress options, including: 

  • DreamPress Plus: $24.95 per month with double the SSD storage, jetpack professional, and unlimited CDN
  • DreamPress Pro: $71.95 per month with 120GB SSD storage, 1M+ monthly visitors, and one staging website 

These pricing plans are more suited to high-demanding WordPress websites that require comprehensive tools. 

I will get into VPS hosting and options in the next section. 

DreamHost Offerings 

DreamHost has a few product offerings for web hosting that cater to most users. Below is an in-depth look at the different products DreamHost offer for web hosting services:

WordPress Hosting 

WordPress hosting is by far the most popular product that DreamHost offers to its users. DreamHost specifically optimized most of their tools and technology for WordPress compatibility, so it’s for a good reason that WordPress hosting is so popular. 

WordPress hosting on DreamHost will completely transform your website with powerful features, add-ons, and 24/7 support. They do this by working closely with WordPress.org themselves, so you will always get the newest version and continuous updates to make sure your website is running and secure. 

The easiest part about choosing WordPress hosting is the instant set up and installation process. If you select a plan that supports multiple websites, the one-click installer will do everything for you—offering seamless integration. 

WordPress hosting starts at $2.59 per month for one website with a 36-month commitment.

By choosing WordPress hosting, your website will benefit from some key features, including: 

  • Free privacy protection 
  • Free domain with annual plans 
  • Free email hosting 
  • Advanced and easy-to-use control panel 
  • Free SSL certificate 
  • Automated backups 

WordPress hosting is an excellent option for those who own a WordPress website for the most effortless transitions and seamless integration into web hosting. 

VPS Hosting 

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is another common hosting option that DreamHost manages and monitors very well. With performance and security updates, your website will be safest with the wide variety of tools and features of VPS at DreamHost. 

A powerful feature DreamHost offers with VPS hosting is individual resources that only your website can use. This means dedicated resources will help your website create low latency and high performance. 

With an intuitive control panel, VPS hosting has never been easier to manage. DreamHost also allows you to customize this control panel to your individual preferences. You also have the option to upgrade your RAM and storage in under 10 seconds, giving you that extra peace of mind for when your website inevitably grows. 

The DreamHost VPS plans offer basic and advanced features for different goals, including: 

Basic features: 

  • 20x faster SSDs that range from 30GB to 240GB
  • Scalable 1GB RAM
  • Reseller and sub-accounts for client and contractor website access
  • Unlimited MySQL databases

Advanced features: 

  • Automatic software updates
  • Password protection
  • Access to raw file logs 
  • Unique IPv4 and IPv6

These features will work well for users looking for a more comprehensive hosting service on a private server. 

VPS hosting offers four different pricing plans, including:

  • VPS Basic: starting at $10 per month with 1GB RAM and 30 GB SSD storage
  • VPS Business: starting at $20 per month with 2GB RAM and 60 GB SSD storage
  • VPS Professional: starting at $40 per month with 4GB RAM and 120 GB SSD storage
  • VPS Enterprise: starting at $80 per month with 8GB RAM and 240 GB SSD storage

DreamHost makes sure there’s a pricing plan for every website owner looking at VPS hosting. 

Cloud Hosting 

Lastly, DreamHost offers a unique service called cloud hosting with OpenStack. Cloud hosting, also known as DreamCompute, is a product that provides simple cloud servers to advanced network configurations. 

Cloud hosting is an excellent option for users who are looking at hosting a website using software of their choice, are running their own server, for gaming purposes, or are running web-scale applications. 

Like the other two product offerings, DreamHost always makes sure speed and performance are a top priority for all servers. Cloud hosting SSH is ready in 30 seconds because of next-gen processors and accelerated SSD disks. 

Cloud hosting offers a few helpful features, like: 

  • Storage application integration 
  • Backup WordPress sites 
  • Run any application like Ruby, Python, and Redis 
  • Migrate works into your private cloud 

DreamCompute has three pricing plans with really flexible prices, including: 

  • 512MB RAM Server: $4.50 per month ($0.0075 per hour)
  • 2GB RAM Server: $12 per month ($0.02 per hour)
  • 8GB RAM Server: $48 per month ($0.08 per hour) 

With the cloud hosting plans, DreamHost only charges users up to 600 hours in any given month. All plans come with 100GB of block storage and free bandwidth. 

The Best Web Hosting Services 

I’ve spent hours reviewing different web hosting services. You can check out my buying guide here.

Summary 

Overall, DreamHost is an excellent web hosting service option for most website owners looking for high performance and quick adaptation at an affordable price. 

With great pricing packages and product offerings like WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and cloud hosting, there’s an option for everyone with different preferences. 

The pros definitely outweigh the cons of DreamHost, and I think it’s worth looking into for website transformation and growth.

The post DreamHost Review appeared first on Neil Patel.

Need Funding? Our Credibly Recession Financing Review Can Save Your Business

Get the Funding Your Business Craves with Our Credibly Recession Financing Review

If you’ve been looking for a Credibly recession funding review, then look no further.

Credibly is one of several online lending companies. They are actually an emerging Fintech platform. They also provide SBA PPP loans.

Credibly can provide small business funding for working capital or small business expansion.  You can also get a line of credit through them, equipment financing, invoice factoring, and merchant cash advances.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Background

Credibly is located online here: www.credibly.com. Their physical addresses are located in Southfield, Michigan; New York, New York; and Scottsdale, Arizona.  You can call them at: (888) 664-1444. Their contact page is here: www.credibly.com/contact.

You can email them at: customerservice@credibly.com.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Qualification Requirements

Your company has to in business for at least 6 months at the minimum. In addition, you need to have at least $15,000 in monthly revenue. You must have a personal credit score of 500 or better.

Credibly also will want to review your most recent three months’ worth of bank statements while they consider whether to grant your application for funding.

Credibly offers $5,000 to $400,000 in funding. Get money fast – within 24 – 48 hours.

Credibly will perform a soft credit pull only to check your qualifications. But before you receive funding, Credibly will do a hard pull which will appear on your credit profile and may affect your credit score.

In addition, they will want a personal guarantee. They do not require you to provide collateral.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Working Capital Loans

Get up to $400,000 in funding. Terms are 6 to 18 months. Pay factor rates as low as 1.15. For loans over $100,000, they want to see your most recent business tax return.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Business Expansion Loans

Get up to $250,000 in funding. Terms are 18 or 24 months. Interest rates start at 9.99%. You must have a FICO score of 600 or better and three or more years in business. Also, you must have $3,000 or more in average daily balances.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Fees

Pay a one-time 2.5% of the total loan amount set up fee. This fee is deducted from your proceeds. Rates start at 9.99%.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Lines of Credit. Invoice Factoring, and Equipment Financing

These forms of funding are only available through Credibly’s network of external funding partners.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Merchant Cash Advances

Get up to $400,000 in funding. Duration is anticipated to be 3 to 18 months. Pay factor rates as low as 1.15. Automatic remittances are tied to your receivables.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Advantages

Advantages include a short time in business requirement. A short time to funding is also attractive.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Disadvantages

One set of disadvantages are that they will want a personal guarantee and they will do a hard pull on your personal credit.

For startup companies and their founders in particular, who are often on some shaky financial ground to begin with, this could prove problematic. For these sorts of companies and business owners, a better choice might be to try crowdfunding or angel investing if either is possible. In that way, a business owner’s personal assets would be safer. And, their personal credit would not be affected.

A Viable Alternative – Building Business Credit

Business credit is credit in a small business’s name. It doesn’t attach to a business owner’s personal credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the solitary employee of the small business.

Hence, a business owner’s business and individual credit scores can be very different.

The Advantages

Because company credit is independent from personal, it helps to secure a small business owner’s personal assets, in the event of court action or business insolvency.

Also, with two distinct credit scores, a business owner can get two separate cards from the same merchant. This effectively doubles purchasing power.

Another benefit is that even startup ventures can do this. Going to a bank for a business loan can be a recipe for disappointment. But building company credit, when done correctly, is a plan for success.

Personal credit scores depend on payments but also various other components like credit use percentages.

But for business credit, the scores truly merely depend on if a small business pays its bills timely.

Discover our business credit and finance guide, jam-packed with new ways to finance your business without emptying your wallet. Save your money during the recession!

The Process

Establishing company credit is a process, and it does not occur automatically. A business needs to actively work to establish company credit.

Nevertheless, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much swifter than developing consumer credit scores.

Vendors are a big component of this process.

Performing the steps out of sequence will cause repetitive denials. Nobody can start at the top with business credit. For instance, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a denial 100% of the time.

Company Fundability

A company needs to be fundable to lending institutions and vendors.

Consequently, a company will need a professional-looking web site and e-mail address. And it needs to have site hosting bought from a company like GoDaddy.

Additionally, company phone numbers must have a listing on 411.com. Use ListYourself to get a listing.

Likewise, the business phone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or similar).

A business will also need a bank account dedicated solely to it, and it must have every one of the licenses essential for operation.

Licenses

These licenses all have to be in the particular, correct name of the company. And they need to have the same company address and phone numbers.

So note, that this means not just state licenses, but possibly also city licenses.

Discover our business credit and finance guide, jam-packed with new ways to finance your business without emptying your wallet. Save your money during the recession!

Dealing with the IRS

Visit the Internal Revenue Service web site and obtain an EIN for the company. They’re free. Pick a business entity such as corporation, LLC, etc.

A business can get started as a sole proprietor. But they will most likely wish to switch to a type of corporation or an LLC.

This is in order to decrease risk. And it will optimize tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it involves taxes and liability in case of litigation. A sole proprietorship means the entrepreneur is it when it comes to liability and tax obligations. Nobody else is responsible.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you run a business as a sole proprietor, then at least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the company name. Hence, you can find yourself being directly responsible for all small business financial obligations.

Plus, according to the Internal Revenue Service, using this structure there is a 1 in 7 chance of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 probability for corporations! Prevent confusion and dramatically reduce the odds of an Internal Revenue Service audit simultaneously.

Any DBA should be a stepping stone to incorporating.

Starting Off the Business Credit Reporting Process

Start at the D&B web site and get a free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a small business in their system, to generate a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s websites for the small business. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for accuracy and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

In this manner, Experian and Equifax will have activity to report on.

Vendor Credit

First you ought to build trade lines that report. This is also referred to as vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can begin to get retail and cash credit.

These types of accounts have the tendency to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But to start with, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you starter credit when you have none now. Terms are in most cases Net 30, versus revolving.

Therefore, if you get an approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you need to pay that money back in a set term, like within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Discover our business credit and finance guide, jam-packed with new ways to finance your business without emptying your wallet. Save your money during the recession!

Details

Net 30 accounts must be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts need to be paid completely within 60 days. Unlike with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you have to pay back what you borrowed or the credit you made use of.

To kick off your business credit profile the proper way, you should get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. When that’s done, you can then make use of the credit.

Then repay what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit – It Helps

Not every vendor can help in the same way true starter credit can. These are vendors that will grant an approval with nominal effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

You want 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is retail credit.

Retail Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move onto retail credit. These are companies which include Office Depot and Staples.

Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the company’s EIN on these credit applications.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then progress to fleet credit. These are companies like BP and Conoco. Use this credit to purchase fuel, and to fix and maintain vehicles. Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make certain to apply using the company’s EIN.

Cash Credit

Have you been responsibly handling the credit you’ve up to this point? Then move onto more universal cash credit. These are businesses like Visa and MasterCard. Only use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

These are typically MasterCard credit cards. If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are attainable.

Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make sure it is being reported and take care of any mistakes ASAP. Get in the practice of checking credit reports. Dig into the details, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for 90% less.

Update Your Record

Update the data if there are inaccuracies or the information is incomplete. At D&B, you can do this at: https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm. For Experian, go here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp. And for Equifax, go here: www.equifax.com/business/small-business.

Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any problems in your records. Errors in your credit report(s) can be fixed. But the CRAs often want you to dispute in a particular way.

Disputes

Disputing credit report errors generally means you mail a paper letter with copies of any proofs of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the originals. Always mail copies and keep the original copies.

Fixing credit report errors also means you precisely detail any charges you challenge. Make your dispute letter as understandable as possible. Be specific about the problems with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.

A Word about Building Business Credit

Always use credit responsibly! Don’t borrow more than what you can pay back. Track balances and deadlines for payments. Paying punctually and in full will do more to raise business credit scores than just about anything else.

Establishing business credit pays off. Good business credit scores help a small business get loans. Your credit issuer knows the company can pay its debts. They recognize the company is for real.

The business’s EIN connects to high scores and lenders won’t feel the need to ask for a personal guarantee.

Business credit is an asset which can help your company in years to come. Learn more here and get started toward establishing business credit.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Takeaways

Companies that do best on Credibly will be fairly new players but with relatively meteoric rises.

A business owner asking for a loan should be prepared for a hard pull on his or her personal credit scores, which will impact those scores. This is just like all hard pulls do.

If an entrepreneur does not have the wherewithal to ride out a slightly lower personal credit score for a couple of years, then Credibly is not for them.

And finally, as with every other lending program, whether online or offline, remember to read the fine print and do the math. Go over the details with care. Decide if this option will be good for you and your company.

In addition, consider alternative financing options that go beyond just lending. These include building business credit and unsecured business financing. This is in order to best decide how to get the money you need to help your business grow.

Today, we want to hear from our audience! Share your voice with us about your experiences with online lenders and give us your own Credibly review.

 

 

The post Need Funding? Our Credibly Recession Financing Review Can Save Your Business appeared first on Credit Suite.

The post Need Funding? Our Credibly Recession Financing Review Can Save Your Business appeared first on Business Marketplace Product Reviews.

The post Need Funding? Our Credibly Recession Financing Review Can Save Your Business appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Need Funding? Our Credibly Recession Financing Review Can Save Your Business

Get the Funding Your Business Craves with Our Credibly Recession Financing Review If you’ve been looking for a Credibly recession funding review, then look no further. Credibly is one of several online lending companies. They are actually an emerging Fintech platform. They also provide SBA PPP loans. Credibly can provide small business funding for working … Continue reading Need Funding? Our Credibly Recession Financing Review Can Save Your Business

Need Funding? Our Credibly Recession Financing Review Can Save Your Business

Get the Funding Your Business Craves with Our Credibly Recession Financing Review

If you’ve been looking for a Credibly recession funding review, then look no further.

Credibly is one of several online lending companies. They are actually an emerging Fintech platform. They also provide SBA PPP loans.

Credibly can provide small business funding for working capital or small business expansion.  You can also get a line of credit through them, equipment financing, invoice factoring, and merchant cash advances.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Background

Credibly is located online here: www.credibly.com. Their physical addresses are located in Southfield, Michigan; New York, New York; and Scottsdale, Arizona.  You can call them at: (888) 664-1444. Their contact page is here: www.credibly.com/contact.

You can email them at: customerservice@credibly.com.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Qualification Requirements

Your company has to in business for at least 6 months at the minimum. In addition, you need to have at least $15,000 in monthly revenue. You must have a personal credit score of 500 or better.

Credibly also will want to review your most recent three months’ worth of bank statements while they consider whether to grant your application for funding.

Credibly offers $5,000 to $400,000 in funding. Get money fast – within 24 – 48 hours.

Credibly will perform a soft credit pull only to check your qualifications. But before you receive funding, Credibly will do a hard pull which will appear on your credit profile and may affect your credit score.

In addition, they will want a personal guarantee. They do not require you to provide collateral.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Working Capital Loans

Get up to $400,000 in funding. Terms are 6 to 18 months. Pay factor rates as low as 1.15. For loans over $100,000, they want to see your most recent business tax return.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Business Expansion Loans

Get up to $250,000 in funding. Terms are 18 or 24 months. Interest rates start at 9.99%. You must have a FICO score of 600 or better and three or more years in business. Also, you must have $3,000 or more in average daily balances.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Fees

Pay a one-time 2.5% of the total loan amount set up fee. This fee is deducted from your proceeds. Rates start at 9.99%.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Lines of Credit. Invoice Factoring, and Equipment Financing

These forms of funding are only available through Credibly’s network of external funding partners.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Merchant Cash Advances

Get up to $400,000 in funding. Duration is anticipated to be 3 to 18 months. Pay factor rates as low as 1.15. Automatic remittances are tied to your receivables.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Advantages

Advantages include a short time in business requirement. A short time to funding is also attractive.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Disadvantages

One set of disadvantages are that they will want a personal guarantee and they will do a hard pull on your personal credit.

For startup companies and their founders in particular, who are often on some shaky financial ground to begin with, this could prove problematic. For these sorts of companies and business owners, a better choice might be to try crowdfunding or angel investing if either is possible. In that way, a business owner’s personal assets would be safer. And, their personal credit would not be affected.

A Viable Alternative – Building Business Credit

Business credit is credit in a small business’s name. It doesn’t attach to a business owner’s personal credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the solitary employee of the small business.

Hence, a business owner’s business and individual credit scores can be very different.

The Advantages

Because company credit is independent from personal, it helps to secure a small business owner’s personal assets, in the event of court action or business insolvency.

Also, with two distinct credit scores, a business owner can get two separate cards from the same merchant. This effectively doubles purchasing power.

Another benefit is that even startup ventures can do this. Going to a bank for a business loan can be a recipe for disappointment. But building company credit, when done correctly, is a plan for success.

Personal credit scores depend on payments but also various other components like credit use percentages.

But for business credit, the scores truly merely depend on if a small business pays its bills timely.

Discover our business credit and finance guide, jam-packed with new ways to finance your business without emptying your wallet. Save your money during the recession!

The Process

Establishing company credit is a process, and it does not occur automatically. A business needs to actively work to establish company credit.

Nevertheless, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much swifter than developing consumer credit scores.

Vendors are a big component of this process.

Performing the steps out of sequence will cause repetitive denials. Nobody can start at the top with business credit. For instance, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a denial 100% of the time.

Company Fundability

A company needs to be fundable to lending institutions and vendors.

Consequently, a company will need a professional-looking web site and e-mail address. And it needs to have site hosting bought from a company like GoDaddy.

Additionally, company phone numbers must have a listing on 411.com. Use ListYourself to get a listing.

Likewise, the business phone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or similar).

A business will also need a bank account dedicated solely to it, and it must have every one of the licenses essential for operation.

Licenses

These licenses all have to be in the particular, correct name of the company. And they need to have the same company address and phone numbers.

So note, that this means not just state licenses, but possibly also city licenses.

Discover our business credit and finance guide, jam-packed with new ways to finance your business without emptying your wallet. Save your money during the recession!

Dealing with the IRS

Visit the Internal Revenue Service web site and obtain an EIN for the company. They’re free. Pick a business entity such as corporation, LLC, etc.

A business can get started as a sole proprietor. But they will most likely wish to switch to a type of corporation or an LLC.

This is in order to decrease risk. And it will optimize tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it involves taxes and liability in case of litigation. A sole proprietorship means the entrepreneur is it when it comes to liability and tax obligations. Nobody else is responsible.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you run a business as a sole proprietor, then at least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the company name. Hence, you can find yourself being directly responsible for all small business financial obligations.

Plus, according to the Internal Revenue Service, using this structure there is a 1 in 7 chance of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 probability for corporations! Prevent confusion and dramatically reduce the odds of an Internal Revenue Service audit simultaneously.

Any DBA should be a stepping stone to incorporating.

Starting Off the Business Credit Reporting Process

Start at the D&B web site and get a free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a small business in their system, to generate a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s websites for the small business. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for accuracy and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

In this manner, Experian and Equifax will have activity to report on.

Vendor Credit

First you ought to build trade lines that report. This is also referred to as vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can begin to get retail and cash credit.

These types of accounts have the tendency to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But to start with, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you starter credit when you have none now. Terms are in most cases Net 30, versus revolving.

Therefore, if you get an approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you need to pay that money back in a set term, like within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Discover our business credit and finance guide, jam-packed with new ways to finance your business without emptying your wallet. Save your money during the recession!

Details

Net 30 accounts must be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts need to be paid completely within 60 days. Unlike with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you have to pay back what you borrowed or the credit you made use of.

To kick off your business credit profile the proper way, you should get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. When that’s done, you can then make use of the credit.

Then repay what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit – It Helps

Not every vendor can help in the same way true starter credit can. These are vendors that will grant an approval with nominal effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

You want 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is retail credit.

Retail Credit

Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move onto retail credit. These are companies which include Office Depot and Staples.

Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the company’s EIN on these credit applications.

Fleet Credit

Are there more accounts reporting? Then progress to fleet credit. These are companies like BP and Conoco. Use this credit to purchase fuel, and to fix and maintain vehicles. Just use your SSN and date of birth on theCredibly COVID-19 Funding Credit Suitese applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make certain to apply using the company’s EIN.

Cash Credit

Have you been responsibly handling the credit you’ve up to this point? Then move onto more universal cash credit. These are businesses like Visa and MasterCard. Only use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

These are typically MasterCard credit cards. If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are attainable.

Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make sure it is being reported and take care of any mistakes ASAP. Get in the practice of checking credit reports. Dig into the details, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for 90% less.

Update Your Record

Update the data if there are inaccuracies or the information is incomplete. At D&B, you can do this at: https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm. For Experian, go here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp. And for Equifax, go here: www.equifax.com/business/small-business.

Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any problems in your records. Errors in your credit report(s) can be fixed. But the CRAs often want you to dispute in a particular way.

Disputes

Disputing credit report errors generally means you mail a paper letter with copies of any proofs of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the originals. Always mail copies and keep the original copies.

Fixing credit report errors also means you precisely detail any charges you challenge. Make your dispute letter as understandable as possible. Be specific about the problems with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.

A Word about Building Business Credit

Always use credit responsibly! Don’t borrow more than what you can pay back. Track balances and deadlines for payments. Paying punctually and in full will do more to raise business credit scores than just about anything else.

Establishing business credit pays off. Good business credit scores help a small business get loans. Your credit issuer knows the company can pay its debts. They recognize the company is for real.

The business’s EIN connects to high scores and lenders won’t feel the need to ask for a personal guarantee.

Business credit is an asset which can help your company in years to come. Learn more here and get started toward establishing business credit.

Credibly Recession Funding Review: Takeaways

Companies that do best on Credibly will be fairly new players but with relatively meteoric rises.

A business owner asking for a loan should be prepared for a hard pull on his or her personal credit scores, which will impact those scores. This is just like all hard pulls do.

If an entrepreneur does not have the wherewithal to ride out a slightly lower personal credit score for a couple of years, then Credibly is not for them.

And finally, as with every other lending program, whether online or offline, remember to read the fine print and do the math. Go over the details with care. Decide if this option will be good for you and your company.

In addition, consider alternative financing options that go beyond just lending. These include building business credit and unsecured business financing. This is in order to best decide how to get the money you need to help your business grow.

Today, we want to hear from our audience! Share your voice with us about your experiences with online lenders and give us your own Credibly review.

 

 

The post Need Funding? Our Credibly Recession Financing Review Can Save Your Business appeared first on Credit Suite.

Stop! Before You Borrow, Check Out Our Fundera Review for Better Recession Funding

Recession Age Funding The number of American banks as well as thrifts has been decreasing slowly for a quarter of a century. This is from consolidation in the marketplace in addition to deregulation in the 1990s, reducing barriers to interstate banking. See: fundera.com/blog/happened-americas-small-businesses-financial-crisis-six-years-start-crisis-look-back-10-charts. Assets concentrated in ever‐larger banks is problematic for small business proprietors. Big … Continue reading Stop! Before You Borrow, Check Out Our Fundera Review for Better Recession Funding

Stop! Before You Borrow, Check Out Our Fundera Review for Better Recession Funding

Recession Age Funding

The number of American banks as well as thrifts has been decreasing slowly for a quarter of a century. This is from consolidation in the marketplace in addition to deregulation in the 1990s, reducing barriers to interstate banking. See: fundera.com/blog/happened-americas-small-businesses-financial-crisis-six-years-start-crisis-look-back-10-charts. Assets concentrated in ever‐larger banks is problematic for small business proprietors. Big banks are much less likely to make small loans. Economic slumps indicate banks become more careful with lending. Luckily, business credit does not rely upon banks. That’s why we’re offering our Fundera review.

Looking for Funding? You Need to Read Our Fundera Review

Fundera is an online lending company. They offer small business loans with a variety of options. They also have SBA loans and equipment financing, among other financing options. We look at the specifics and drill down into the details of Fundera online lending.

Background

Fundera is located online here: https://www.fundera.com/. Their physical address is:

123 William Street, 21st Floor

New York NY 10038.

You can call them here: (800) 386-3372. You can email them at: support@fundera.com.  Fundera is financed by Khosla Ventures; SGE Susquehanna Growth Equity, LLC; Core Innovation Capital; First Round; and QED Investors.

Fundera Review: SBA Loans

Most companies approved had four or more years in business. Most business owners approved had 680 or better credit scores. And most companies approved had $180,000 in annual revenue. Loan amounts run from $5,000 – 5 million, with 5 – 25 year terms. You can get funding in as little as 2 weeks. However, they may require collateral.

Fees

Their interest rates start at 6%.

Fundera Review: Term Loans

Most companies approved had three or more years’ time in business. Most business owners approved had a credit score of 680 or better. And most companies approved had $300,000 or more in annual revenue. $25,000 – 500,000 is available. Terms are 1 – 5 years. It is as little as 2 days to approval.

Fees

Their interest rates range from 7 – 30%, and there are possible prepayment penalties.

Fundera Review: Equipment Financing

Most companies approved had been in business for two or more years. Most business owners approved had a credit score of 630 or better. And most companies approved had $130,000 or more in annual revenue. Your loan amount up is to 100% of equipment value. The term is the expected life of the equipment, and the equipment serves as the collateral. You can get approval in as little as 2 days.

Fees

Interest rates range from 8 – 30%. Equipment depreciation may be required; this cuts into tax deductions.

Fundera Review: Business Lines of Credit

Most companies approved had been in business for a year or more. Most business owners approved had a credit score of 630 or better. And most companies approved had  $180,000 or more in annual revenue. $10,000 to over $1 million in funding is available, with 6 months to 5 years terms. Approval is in as little as one day.

Fees

Interest rates range from 7 – 25%. However, they may require collateral. There are higher rates for lower credit scores.

Fundera Review: Invoice Financing

Most companies approved had been in business for one year or more. Most business owners approved had a credit score of 600 or better. And most companies approved had $130,000 or more in annual revenue. The maximum advance is equivalent to 100% of the total amount of invoice. Approval is in as little as one day.

Fees

Get a fast advance of about 85% of the value of invoices. Most of the other 15% is paid later. The factor fee is 3% + %/week outstanding. These fees are based on the time it takes for a customer to pay off the invoice.

Fundera Review: Advantages

Advantages include several flexible options. And some of them can get an approval with rather low minimum FICO scores. This choice makes Fundera an option for entrepreneurs who do not have stellar credit. You can also get some forms of funding with fairly low annual revenues. Companies with comparably low annual revenue could get approvals for startup loans and personal loans for business.

Fundera Review: Disadvantages

Disadvantages include your fees are based on how fast your customer pays, so any deadbeat customers will cost you.

An Alternative: Building Business Credit

Small business credit is credit in a small business’s name. It doesn’t attach to an entrepreneur’s personal credit, not even if the owner is a sole proprietor and the only employee of the business.

As a result, an entrepreneur’s business and individual credit scores can be very different. And it is vital in a poor economy.

The Benefits

Since small business credit is separate from personal, it helps to secure an entrepreneur’s personal assets, in case of a lawsuit or business bankruptcy.

Also, with two distinct credit scores, a business owner can get two different cards from the same merchant. This effectively doubles buying power.

Another advantage is that even startup businesses can do this. Going to a bank for a business loan can be a recipe for frustration. But building business credit, when done right, is a plan for success.

Consumer credit scores are dependent on payments but also additional factors like credit utilization percentages.

But for company credit, the scores really just hinge on whether a small business pays its debts in a timely manner.

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The Process

Growing small business credit is a process, and it does not occur without effort. A small business must proactively work to build business credit.

That being said, it can be done easily and quickly, and it is much quicker than establishing personal credit scores.

Vendors are a big aspect of this process.

Accomplishing the steps out of order will cause repetitive rejections. No one can start at the top with business credit. For instance, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a rejection 100% of the time.

Business Fundability

A business must be fundable to lenders and vendors.

That’s why, a small business will need a professional-looking website and e-mail address. And it needs to have website hosting bought from a supplier like GoDaddy.

In addition, company telephone  numbers must have a listing on ListYourself.com.

In addition, the business telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or the like).

A business will also need a bank account devoted strictly to it, and it has to have all of the licenses essential for operating.

Licenses

These licenses all must be in the identical, correct name of the small business. And they need to have the same business address and telephone numbers.

So keep in mind, that this means not just state licenses, but possibly also city licenses.

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Working with the IRS

Visit the IRS web site and acquire an EIN for the business. They’re free. Choose a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.

A small business can get started as a sole proprietor. But they will most likely want to change to a form of corporation or an LLC.

This is in order to decrease risk. And it will maximize tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it pertains to tax obligations and liability in the event of a lawsuit. A sole proprietorship means the business owner is it when it comes to liability and taxes. Nobody else is responsible.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you operate a company as a sole proprietor, then at the very least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the small business name. Consequently, you can end up being personally responsible for all business financial obligations.

And also, per the IRS, using this arrangement there is a 1 in 7 probability of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 chance for corporations! Prevent confusion and drastically decrease the odds of an Internal Revenue Service audit at the same time.

But never look at a DBA filing as ever being anything beyond a steppingstone to incorporating.

Instigating the Business Credit Reporting Process

Start at the D&B web site and get a totally free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a company in their system, to generate a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s websites for the business. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for accuracy and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

By doing this, Experian and Equifax will have something to report on.

Vendor Credit Tier

First you should establish trade lines that report. This is also known as the vendor credit tier. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can begin to obtain credit in the retail and cash credit tiers.

These kinds of accounts often tend to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But first of all, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you preliminary credit when you have none now. Terms are often Net 30, versus revolving.

Therefore, if you get approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you will need to pay that money back in a set term, such as within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Details

Net 30 accounts need to be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts have to be paid fully within 60 days. In contrast to with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you have to pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used.

To launch your business credit profile the proper way, you should get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. When that’s done, you can then make use of the credit.

Then pay back what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit Tier – It Makes Sense

Not every vendor can help like true starter credit can. These are vendors that will grant an approval with negligible effort. You also need them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

You want 5 to 8 of these to move onto the next step, which is the retail credit tier. But you may have to apply more than one time to these vendors. So, this is to demonstrate you are dependable and will pay in a timely manner.

Retail Credit Tier

Once there are 5 to 8 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move to the retail credit tier. These are companies like Office Depot and Staples.

Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the small business’s EIN on these credit applications.

One instance is Lowe’s. They report to D&B, Equifax and Business Experian. They need to see a D-U-N-S and a PAYDEX score of 78 or more.

Fleet Credit Tier

Are there 8 to 10 accounts reporting? Then move onto the fleet credit tier. These are companies such as BP and Conoco. Use this credit to purchase fuel, and to repair, and take care of vehicles. Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make sure to apply using the company’s EIN.

One such example is Shell. They report to D&B and Business Experian. They want to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or higher and a 411 business telephone listing.

Shell might claim they want a specific amount of time in business or profits. But if you already have adequate vendor accounts, that won’t be necessary. And you can still get approval.

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Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide. We can help you get money, even during a recession.

Cash Credit Tier

Have you been responsibly handling the credit you’ve up to this point? Then progress to the cash credit tier. These are businesses such as Visa and MasterCard. Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

One such example is the Fuelman MasterCard. They report to D&B and Equifax Business. They need to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or higher. And they also want you to have 10 trade lines reporting on your D&B report.

Plus, they want to see a $10,000 high credit limit reporting on your D&B report (other account reporting).

In addition, they want you to have an established small business.

These are companies like Walmart and Dell, and also Home Depot, BP, and Racetrac. These are often MasterCard credit cards. If you have 14 trade accounts reporting, then these are in reach.

Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make certain it is being reported and deal with any inaccuracies as soon as possible. Get in the habit of taking a look at credit reports and digging into the particulars, and not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for 90% less than it would cost you at the CRAs. See: www.creditsuite.com/monitoring.

Update Your Data

Update the information if there are inaccuracies or the data is incomplete.

Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to dispute any mistakes in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be taken care of. But the CRAs normally want you to dispute in a particular way.

Disputes

Disputing credit report mistakes typically means you mail a paper letter with copies of any proofs of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the original copies. Always mail copies and retain the original copies.

Fixing credit report errors also means you specifically itemize any charges you challenge. Make your dispute letter as understandable as possible. Be specific about the problems with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you sent in your dispute.

A Word about Building Business Credit

Always use credit responsibly! Don’t borrow more than what you can pay off. Monitor balances and deadlines for repayments. Paying punctually and in full will do more to increase business credit scores than just about anything else.

Building small business credit pays. Excellent business credit scores help a company get loans. Your lending institution knows the small business can pay its financial obligations. They know the company is bona fide.

The small business’s EIN attaches to high scores and credit issuers won’t feel the need to request a personal guarantee.

Business credit is an asset which can help your company for years to come.

Upshot

With fairly low annual revenue and minimum FICO score requirements, the Fundera online lender program is a good choice for newer businesses that haven’t quite gotten up to speed yet. However, because your company will be charged for deadbeat clients, even a startup will need to be certain their customers will pay on time.

And finally, as with every other lending program, whether online or offline, remember to read the fine print and do the math. Go over the details with care. Only you can decide if this option will be good for you and your company.

In addition, consider alternative financing options that go beyond lending. This includes building business credit. In a recession, you need to best decide how to get the money you need to help your business grow.

Today, we want to hear from our audience! Share your voice with us about your experiences with online lenders.

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